Ted Cruz busted for stance on corporate PACs — and where he really gets his money

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In a biting column for the Bulwark, conservative columnist Mona Charen called out Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) over his well-publicized rant about no longer taking money from corporate PACs — and pointed out it’s a lot of smoke and mirrors.

On Thursday, the Texas Republican made a big show in the Wall Street Journal by announcing he will refuse corporate PAC money because corporations are becoming too “woke.” 

According to Cruz, “For too long, woke CEOs have been fair-weather friends to the Republican Party: They like us until the left’s digital pitchforks come out. Then they run away. Or they mouth off on legislation they don’t understand—and hurt the reputations of patriotic leaders protecting our elections and expanding the right to vote. Enough is enough. Corporations that flagrantly misrepresent efforts to protect our elections need to be called out, singled out and cut off,” before adding, “In my nine years in the Senate, I’ve received $2.6 million in contributions from corporate political-action committees. Starting today, I no longer accept money from any corporate PAC. I urge my GOP colleagues at all levels to do the same.” Continue reading.

Ted Cruz maintains ties to right-wing group despite its extremist messaging

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On Aug. 4, 2019, the day after a gunman who had posted a hateful diatribe against Hispanics fatally shot 23 people at an El Paso Walmart, a leader of a tea party group in Texas said on Facebook: “You’re not going to demographically replace a once proud, strong people without getting blow-back.”

His wife, the founder of the group, in the Fort Worth suburbs of Tarrant County, added in a comment: “I don’t condone the actions, but I certainly understand where they came from.”

Ten days later, amid a brewing backlash over the comments by Fred and Julie McCarty, the Northeast Tarrant Tea Party posted an undated testimonial from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) wishing the group a happy 10th anniversary as it rebranded itself as True Texas Project. Continue reading.

‘Pot calling the kettle violent’: CNN host throws Cruz’s own words in his face after GOP senator feigns outrage over Maxine Waters

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With the defense having rested in former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin’s murder trial, Rep. Maxine Waters of California was asked how “justice for George Floyd” activists will response if Chauvin is found not guilty. And the congresswoman called for a vocal response if that happens, saying, “We’ve got to get more confrontational. We’ve got to let them know that we mean business.” Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas was among the far-right Republicans who claimed that Waters was advocating violence — and CNN’s John Berman called Cruz out and reminded viewers of the ways in which the Texas senator’s false claims of widespread voter fraud encouraged the January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol Building.

On CNN’s “New Day,” host Berman explained, “She didn’t say what type of confrontation. Still, this is not the language that business owners in Minneapolis want to hear or that people calling for calm, including the president or the family of George Floyd (want to hear).”

But he went on to explain why Cruz is the last person who should be accusing a congresswoman of overly incendiary rhetoric. Continue reading.

Ted Cruz melts down over voting rights bill because people on ‘welfare’ might vote

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Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) answered questions about the border and voting rights on Sunday by repeatedly accusing Democrats of enabling child rape. 

Cruz made the remarks on Fox News after host Maria Bartiromo asked him about his recent trip to the U.S-Mexico border to highlight the seasonal surge in migrants.

“The problem for Democrats, they start from a premise the more illegal immigration the better,” Cruz insisted. “Because they believe if you let all the illegal immigrants in and then you make them all citizens that they will eventually vote Democrat and keep Democrats in power.” Continue reading.

Ted Cruz’s misleading memories of his 2013 gun proposal

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“Sutherland Springs, the worst church shooting in U.S. history, a small town outside of San Antonio. … If Grassley-Cruz had passed, there’s a very good chance Sutherland Springs never would have happened, because the criminal who had committed a felony was ineligible to buy guns. The Obama Air Force never reported his conviction to the background database, and when he tried to illegally buy the gun, his conviction wasn’t there. He was allowed to buy the gun, and he murdered those people. If Grassley-Cruz had passed, they would have prosecuted him. They would’ve put him in jail, and he would have been in a jail cell instead of in that beautiful sanctuary.”

— Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), in an interview on “Hannity” on Fox News, March 23

In the wake of a mass shooting in Boulder, Colo., Cruz says legislation he offered in 2013 could have prevented one of the deadliest such events in U.S. history, except Democrats “filibustered it, demanded 60 votes.”

The claim is highly misleading.

The man who committed the 2017 mass shooting in a Texas church, killing 26 and wounding 22, passed federal background checks and was able to purchase firearms because of a string of errors at the Air Force that Cruz’s legislation would not have prevented. Let’s take a look. Continue reading.

Pandemics and gun violence are real life, not ‘theater’

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And the word is not the insult Rand Paul and Ted Cruz seem to think it is

Perhaps Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky needs a refresher course on the meaning of the word “theater.” His GOP colleague Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas could listen in.

The former recently initiated a verbal brawl with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the infectious disease specialist who has been providing information and advice to guide Americans dealing, along with the rest of the world, with a deadly pandemic. The latter accused anyone proposing the consideration of gun restrictions, in light of two horrific mass shootings in the space of a week, of “ridiculous theater.”

Now, I realize the term “theatrical” can be used as an insult hurled at someone accused of exaggeration, but what is happening in America is a fact. So let me offer my own definition: “Theater” is the thrill of escaping from it all in a darkened hall with a group of strangers, to see and hear professionals act or sing or dance, and to be uplifted by the experience, if only for an hour or two. Continue reading.

‘Ridiculous theater’: Sen. Cruz’s pushback on gun restrictions epitomizes high hurdles

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Virtually every time there is a mass shooting in the United States, the debate quickly turns to whether this might be the one — or, in the case of the last week, the two — that will ultimately force major action on gun restrictions.

In many ways, it seems lawmakers have given up even pretending that might be the case.

The tragedies in Atlanta last week and Boulder, Colo., this week have spurred the expected and logical debate about what more can be done about making sure guns don’t find their ways into the hands of the kinds of people who committed these atrocities. And there is an attempt to have that debate. Continue reading.

WATCH: Fox News host ignores Boulder mass shooting to ask Ted Cruz about Kamala Harris’s laugh

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Fox News host Harris Faulkner on Tuesday completely ignored a mass shooting in Colorado and instead asked Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) about Vice President Kamala Harris’s laugh.

Just minutes after officials in Boulder named the 10 victims of Monday’s mass shooting, Harris began her Faulkner Focus program by interviewing Cruz about the border.

At one point during the interview, Faulkner noted that Harris had recently let out a laugh while answering a question about the border. Continue reading.

Ted Cruz flattened for complaining about voting rights bill after trying to ‘overthrow’ an election

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Perhaps the worst person to lead the crusade against the John Lewis Voting Rights Act would be those members who contested the results of the 2020 election using false “voter fraud” rumors.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) took to Fox News to blast his displeasure about the voting rights bill, saying that it would “threaten our democracy.” 

Cruz claimed that “the first bill” proposed by Democrats was HR1, which is false. The number, HR1 is given to the House Speaker for bills she wants to highlight. It doesn’t mean it is the first actual bill. The first bill that Democrats passed was HR 335, “To provide for an exception to a limitation against appointment of persons as Secretary of Defense within seven years of relief from active duty as a regular commissioned officer of the Armed Forces.” It was passed on Jan. 22. The second, HR 1319 was the stimulus bill that Cruz and all other Republicans opposed. Continue reading.

Ted Cruz allegedly used campaign funds to hype his book: report

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Sen. Ted Cruz’s (R-Texas) allegedly used campaign funds to promote his new book, a violation of federal la, a new report says. 

According to The Daily Beast, the concerns stem from Cruz’s usage of campaign funds to run ads on Facebook as a way of promoting his new book, “One Vote Away: How A Single Supreme Court Seat Can Change History.” From September to October of 2020, Cruz allegedly ran a total of 17 ads on his official Facebook political candidate page to raise awareness about the new book.

The publication reports that the sponsored Facebook posts, which the social network filed in its political ads library, featured a clip of the Texas senator encouraging his supporters to purchase the book from a number of online booksellers as he included links to book marketplaces like Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million. Continue reading.